About Schultz Ornamental Iron

He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.”
― Francis of Assisi

Schultz Ornamental Iron was started in the early 1940’s by Emil Otto Schultz Sr. Raising nine children and a few heads of beef cattle, he brought the skills he learned in Lithuania and started Schultz Ornamental Iron in Butler county.

I, Emil Schultz III, started hanging out in the shop as far back as I can remember, being yelled at to stay out, but still sneaking back in to watch what was going on. Finally, around the age of 7, I was allowed to start hand-painting the rails.

Years later, watching as Emil Schultz IV went from crawling to walking to running, I started to see him sneaking into the shop. I knew from the past what it was like to be told not to come in the shop, so I was very proud to see him do it.

I can remember when Pap would pick up that big grinder. I knew to run out of the shop before the sparks started to fly. Watching Emil IV doing the same thing, I’d laugh, as he would run, until the next thing I knew he was the one running the grinder.

At age 6, Emil IV was welding. That’s no mig; that’s stick.

A hard day at the shop, I think I finally wore him out

It wasn’t long until he was welding rails together, bending ram horn ends, twisting pickets and then putting his ideas together to make beautiful ideas come to life. Its amazing to see what things were like back in the 1970s, moving new ideas into the 1990s and now seeing the young bloods ideas into 2010s. All this still using the old techniques from the 1940s.

All of our projects are custom made not just from steel, but from our hearts. We don’t ever rush to finish a project, because for us, its not going out until its perfect. This is why the customers are willing to wait. These projects, no matter how big or small they are, to the owner, they are major, so to us, they are too. These ideas don’t just last a life time, they are handed down from generation to generation, from one home owner to another home owner.

To Schultz Ornamental Iron, each project is very special. Blood, sweat and tears go into every project. Not always all three from the same artist, but definitely all three into every project.